Feel free to use the online text of the novel to copy and paste passage selections.
1. Date and provide the number for each entry.
2. Cite a passage from your novel: Quote that passage on the top of the page of your passage response. Copy the passage exactly using quotation marks. Be sure to include the page number.
3. Provide your entry/response—a minimum of 150 words.
Ways to respond to show active reading include:
Question: Ask about anything that puzzles you. For example: Could this really happen? Are people really this… polite/mean/romantic/religious/violent, etc? What does this word mean the way it is used here? Why did the author choose this way to describe the voice/character/action, etc?
Predict: Answer these questions: What will happen next? Where do you think this is leading? Who is the killer? Will these characters fall in love/end up together? [this are sample questions; they don’t necessarily apply to The Great Gatsby.]
Clarify: What do you understand now that you did not get previously? Have your questions been answered? Were your predictions accurate? Do you understand something you didn’t before?
Evaluate: Give your opinion of the character/event/word/sentence/message. What makes this passage effective? What do you like or dislike about it? You may also include sketches, your own photography, or other artifacts that help you to connect the passage to yourself, the world, or another part of the text, but such images cannot take the place of your written response.
exactly using quotation marks. Be sure to include the page number.
Ways to respond to show active reading include: